Book Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

*****

I picked this up for the love story — see the last line of the synopsis? that caught me. unfortunately, this is a thriller sci-fi that scared the wits out of me. unfortunately because, i was here for the love story, people! not the mystery. but it’s not bad. not bad at all for a debut author.

Story:

the author created a peaceful but twisted world inside a spaceship. There’s the Feeders (the masses, or farmers), the Shippers (gov’t employees, or engineers), and the Eldest (the president, er, dictator). that is how i saw it. oh, wait. there’s the Season. the mating season. Haha! People are encouraged to mate only during this season to increase population in preparation for landing on Centauri-Earth. Man, those peeps are uninhibited! They did it in the garden, in the fields, in front of the Recorder Hall, even inside the hospital and elevator. all for everyone to see. It is normal. 😐

Amy:

this is one violent chick! well, imagine leaving your life behind earth to be with your parents aboard a ship to land 300 years later on a new planet. and then, waking up 50 years early with this new world, new rules, new threats! without knowing anybody. it sucks, and it is unbearable for her. her character is believable, at most. i love her conviction to how people were manhandled by Eldest. if it’s not right by her, she says it so, and stands by it (and hope Eldest won’t release her to the starts, heehee.) i just don’t like her calling her father “Daddy” every time. it felt creepy. *goosebumps* i mean, she’s seventeen for goodness sake.

Elder:

love at first sight with Amy. i liked it that he’s so honest with what he felt for Amy. he’s not afraid to admit it. brutally honest, in fact!

“My face burns at the thought. If Eldest is afraid of what Amy and I could do together, well, to be honest, that’s a possibility i’m rather hoping for.”

he usually stands up against Eldest which is very applauding. their style of leadership is different. he’s beginning to come to terms on how he will lead the ship when the time comes. he’s very badass what he did to Orion (YES!) and i was so proud of him when he told Amy his secret (that’s my man!). all in all, he’s a great character.

“A leader doesn’t make pawns – he makes people.”

ultimate high experience:

i got scared when the BIG twist of the story was revealed. Crap, there really is no escaping their fate in that ship. They are all prisoners there. including Elder.

fave scene:

i think i’ve mentioned it already. there was this scene between Elder and Orion where the latter was taunting the former about his secret. the result? i’d never thought Elder has the CHUTZ to do that. 😀 but it doesn’t stop there, because when Elder stepped up his character by telling Amy his secret, and when he decided to not throw away that thing he’s holding in his pocket, he defined his character as a leader and as a guy that might be worth Amy’s love. 🙂

wait! there’s another. when Amy violently shoves Doc across the wall and pining him with her arm. it’s FREXIN’ wicked!

the verdict:

for me, the book just started to pick up when i was halfway through it. it was a great adventure to start a all-hope-is-lost spaceship-themed series. but the constant questioning of the why all that stuff is happening without really putting it into action (until when i was halfway through) dampened my reading spirits. but will i read the sequel? you betcha. 😉